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Civil War Medicine
The War on the Pacific Railroad
Missouri’s
A military hospital was established near this point in 1861, and
administered by the Western Sanitary Commission that was
headquartered in St. Louis. St. Louis was a medical center during the
1869 view of Pacific
Civil War, and federal military authorities established a number of
facilities to receive the sick and wounded who were not fit to travel to
the St. Louis hospitals. Pacific’s hospital was one of these.
The Catholic Sisters of the Holy Cross, from
South Bend, Indiana, were nurses at the Pacific
military hospital, one of 8 hospitals they served.
At the military hospital in Mound City, Illinois,
the Holy Cross sisters staffed the first hospital
ship in American history, and as a result they
are considered the forerunners of the U. S.
Navy Nurse Corps. The Civil War was the first
experience of the Holy Cross Order in the field
of nursing; now, they are renowned for their
contributions to the field.
Story continued on right panel.
Learn more at www.mocivilwar.org
Lt. Robert Denny
26th Mo. Inf.
CIVIL WAR
The City of Pacific, once known as Franklin,
takes its name from the railroad that bustles
through town. Up to the time of the Civil War
only the Pacific Railroad ran from St. Louis to
this point.
The main line of the Pacific Railroad
was constructed in the
1850s. It reached Jefferson
City in 1855, and by 1861
reached Sedalia. When the
first division of the line
was opened in July, 1852,
the town of Pacific was the
westernmost point reached
by any steam railroad in the
United States.
The promoters of the
Pacific Railroad built a branch
line called the Southwest
Branch, Pacific Railroad.
Construction began here in
1855. The Southwest Branch
was completed as far as Rolla, Missouri
in December, 1860. The junction of the
two lines was 300 yards northeast of the place
you are standing. Now the Burlington line
runs from St. Louis and follows the route of
the old Southwest Branch.
When the Civil War began in Missouri
in May, 1861, there were six railroads in the
state (counting the Southwest Branch), and
four of these emanated from St. Louis. Pacific
was one of only two junction points on these
roads outside of St. Louis, and it was a critical
military resource.
The first Union unit to occupy Pacific in
force was the 9th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, which
established a camp known as Camp Herron. The
9th Iowa arrived in Pacific on October 11, 1861.
The Iowans remained here on guard duty until
January, 1862, when they joined the federal
Copyright © 2010 Missouri’s Civil War Heritage Foundation, Inc.
campaign that ended in the Battle of Pea Ridge,
Arkansas. The 26th Missouri was another
unit with roots in Pacific. Several companies of
the 26th Missouri, made up largely of Franklin
County recruits, enrolled here and received
basic training. The 26th Missouri went south,
and would distinguish itself
at places like Vicksburg,
Missionary Ridge, and on
Sherman’s March to Savannah.
The troops in Pacific were
devastated by disease during
the Fall and Winter of 1861.
The 9th Iowa lost over 20
men to measles, typhoid fever,
chronic diarrhea and other
such causes. Some Franklin
County boys of the 26th
Missouri died in hospital the
week of Christmas, 1861, even
before being mustered in.
The War revisited Pacific
in 1864, when a Confederate force attacked
both branches of the Pacific Railroad. Known
as Price’s Expedition, this campaign featured
a force of 12,000 cavalry and mounted infantry
under the command of former Missouri governor
Maj. Gen. Sterling Price. The Confederates
entered southeast Missouri on September 16,
1864. Moving north in three columns, after
the Battle of Pilot Knob the Confederates
reached the Southwest Branch at Leasburg on
September 29 and at St. Clair on September
30. There is a marker at the top of the bluff
to your north, at Blackburn Park, which
provides more information about the Battle
of Pacific.
To reach Blackburn Park, drive west from
here one block to Second Street. Turn left
on Second, then left on Walnut to the top of
the hill.
Pathfinder
The life of the celebrated “Pathfinder of
the West,” John Charles Frémont, is bound
to the history of the Pacific Railroad. The
first military governor of California and
first Republican candidate for President
of the United States (in 1856), Frémont
owed much to wife Jessie, the daughter of
Missouri Sen. Thomas Hart Benton. Two of
his famous explorations of the West, those
of 1848 and 1853, were undertaken to aid Senator Benton’s search
of a rail route that would put Missouri at the center of commerce
with California.
Frémont’s connections secured for him an appointment as Major
General of the Union Army in July, 1861, and he took command of
the army’s Western Department. His tenure in Missouri was brief and
scandal-ridden. Before he was relieved in November, 1861, he mounted
a campaign directed at Springfield. In October, while his army prepared to
move south from a base on the Pacific Railroad near Tipton, the 9th Iowa
Infantry was moved forward to Pacific to protect Frémont’s supply line.
Ironically, the impact of the war on Missouri’s railroads doomed
Benton’s dream of a railroad to the Pacific, and cleared the way for
the northern route that became the Union Pacific. In 1866 a group
of investors headed by Frémont acquired the Southwest Branch with
designs to continue its construction west. Only a few miles of road
were built west of Rolla before Frémont defaulted on his obligations,
and the failed venture is thought to have cost Frémont the fortune he
had earned in the early days of California. The line was acquired by
another company and became the foundation for the great St. LouisSan Francisco Railway.
Civil War Medicine
(continued)
The establishment of the Pacific military
hospital coincided with another innovation
in military medicine. By most accounts,
the world’s first railroad hospital cars were
outfitted in September, 1861 by order of Maj.
Gen. John Frémont, and placed in service on
the Pacific Railroad between Jefferson City
and St. Louis.
Sources: Hope, Arthur J., CSC, “The Story of Notre Dame,” 1942 < http://
archives.nd.edu/ hope/hope09.htm>; “History of the Frisco,” <http://
thelibrary.springfield. missouri.org/lochist/ frisco/history/1962history.cfm>;
Forman, Jacob Gilbert, The Western Sanitary Commission; a sketch of its
origin, history, etc. (St. Louis: R.P. Studley & Co. 1864).
Image Credit: Library of Congress
Made possible by a grant from the Pacific Area Chamber of Commerce.